The present invention generally relates to computerized loyalty programs, and more specifically, to an interface component designed to communicate with a computerized loyalty program over a computer network.
A number of software products are available on the market today that are capable of handling loyalty programs in a computerized and automated manner. These products, however, are designed to work independently with back office systems located at respective merchant locations. That is, the software product is usually confined to a single merchant location. The software product only manages the loyalty program associated with that particular merchant location. Different copies of the same software product do not communicate with one another. Very often, these products only capture data at their respective locations and then forward the data to a central location on a periodic basis for merely reporting purposes. Remote access to these products from an external location is typically not provided at all or only on a minimal basis. Moreover, user interfaces for customers are usually nonexistent or lacking user-friendly features. This is because, under conventional practice, customers generally do not interact directly with the software product managing the loyalty program.
With electronic commerce moving onto the Internet, the management of loyalty programs has taken on a more centralized approach. The software product for managing the loyalty program is now generally located on a central server at a single location. Client computers located at merchant locations are used to communicate with the central server to process the desired loyalty transaction via the Internet. Furthermore, a large number of customers are conducting purchase transactions over the Internet, often in the convenience of their own homes or places of work. As a result, functions relating to a loyalty transaction that used to be performed by a store clerk may now need to be handled by the customer him/herself.
Hence, it would be desirable to provide an interface component that is capable of providing more effective and user-friendly communications with a computerized loyalty program over a computer network.